Live
Yaaba Funk: 'The Mango Landin' Brixton 18/4/08
Friday night and I was lucky enough to find myself in one of South London’s finest hangouts,the Mango Landin.
A real gem of a place run by the extremely attractive and alluring Sue Davis, who has turned this place around from previous owners and is making a real success of it,attracting the likes of DJ’S Maxi Jazz, Gerry Lyseight,and Gaz Lyall.
The Joint was heaving with the hip young Brixton set and expectations were running high as to exactly what Yaaba Funk could deliver live. Like a prize boxer, warily checking out his opponent in the first round, YF started cautiously. ”This is our spiritual home” announced the buoyed up singer as the band launched into a mellow,3 chord Afro Funk number. It's lilt insidiously permeating the L shaped room - It was an encouraging start.
From then on in the evening quickly developed into a party at full swing. Heavy Afro grooves with crisp, tight drumming, intricate cross rhythms, wah wah guitar, punchy horns and very effective vocal chants were the order of the day.
Another joy was the simple yet deadly synth bass patterns of Paul Brett,creating a deep and hypnotic syncopated pulse allowing the drummer to sit nicely behind the beat. This was a well honed performance from this 9 piece Hi Life Afro beat funk band entrenched in the thick of it and implacable (rather like Mugabe’s
reviled regime!)
One slight criticism I would like to proffer. The set was crying out for a strong Vocal song that would test the prowess of the 2 lead singers, it wasn’t there on the night. That aside, Yaaba Funk are a joy to watch and along with the Soothsayers and Soul Immigrants, Brixton has another top flight band added to it’s rostrum.
Go see this band live! I guarantee you’ll find it hard to keep your feet still!
Words Emrys Baird
